A TRANSLATIONAL STUDY OF INHIBITING AKT TO TREAT COLORECTAL CANCER

She will be studying the AKT signaling pathway in the cancer cell both clinically during a

Phase II trial and in the labora tory, looking at how blocking the pathway affects cells.

For advanced colorectal cancer patients with normal or wild-type KRAS, she will be conducting a Phase II clinical trial of an AKT inhibitor — MK-2206. Her primary objective will be to see if the oral drug shrinks tumors. She’ll also be measuring time to cancer progression, survival time, and serious side effects oftreatment.

In the lab, she’ll be analyzing models of KRAS mutation, searching for ways to inhibit the PI3K/AKT pathway and/or the MEK/ERK pathway. Some KRAS mutated tumors may be sensitive to blocking one or both pathways, but she expects some will be resistant. Understanding both how KRAS mutant tumors respond to or resist MEK and AKT inhibition will help individualize patients in the future for clinical trials of drugs that target these pathways.

Dr. Yaeger is a researcher at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center in New York City. In accepting the Lisa Dubow grant, she said:

“I am very excited to receive this grant in support of my research and grateful for the opportunity to become an independent researcher. This research supports idea targeted therapies in colon cancer and it is my hope that we can rapidly translate the understanding of pathways important in cell growth for the treatment of colon cancer and to better the lives of colon cancer patients”

Lisa Dubow dreamed of a day when even the most dangerous and deadly colorectal cancer could be cured. You can help Fight Colorectal Cancer make those dreams come true by supporting the work of imaginative young cancer researchers by investing in the Lisa Fund.